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Louis Poulsen

Ludvig R Poulsen went into business in 1892 selling tools and electrical supplies. In 1896 he hired his nephew Louis Poulsen, who took over the business upon his uncle's death ten years later. In 1913 Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen became a partner in the firm, by then called Louis Poulsen & Co, and the company's first catalogue, featuring machines and tools, was published in 1914. Three years later Kaastrup-Olsen bought out Louis Poulsen to become sole owner. In 1924 Poul Henningsen began working with the company, designing lamps that won gold medals at the international exhibition for decorative arts in Paris. Louis Poulsen & Co subsequently started marketing light fittings, and in 1941 became a lighting manufacturer when it acquired a metal goods factory. The company continued to work with Henningsen and produce his designs throughout his lifetime, and indeed the PH lamps are still in production at Louis Poulsen today. Louis Poulsen is the lone survivor amongst the handful of Danish lighting companies that occupied the luxury end of the market in the postwar period, and remains a household name worldwide today. Other designers working with Louis Poulsen in the mid to late 20th century included Andreas Hansen, Arne Jacobsen and Verner Panton.